"Being at the vanguard of fashion in New York is magical," says Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, 39, who took on a new role, director of fashion at Lincoln Center, in November, after 11 years as special-events planner at Vogue. The 6'1" Katonah, New York, native says she learned to navigate tricky situations—say, facilitating Fashion Week's move from Bryant Park, which had hosted the biannual shows since 1993—on the court, as a Division I basketball star at Fordham University. "I'm now responsible for balancing the interests and expectations of everyone from designers to the Mayor's Office," says Winston Wolkoff, who also manages another kind of team: sons Zachary, eight, and Tyler, six, and three-year-old daughter Alexi (husband is real-estate developer David Wolkoff). Workdays can begin with early-morning press conferences and end with black-tie events at such storied venues as MoMA and the Waldorf Astoria, so Winston Wolkoff relies on clean, tailored trousers, blazers, and day-to-night dresses (given her job, she's loath to play favorites, but her closets are crowded with Michael Kors and Vera Wang). As one of the Harry Winston Winstons, she's got fine jewelry in her DNA: "When it comes to fashion, I'm Switzerland, but with accessories, my bias is allowed!" And, yes, Winston Wolkoff wears heels—exotic-skin stilettos by Manolo Blahnik "are transformative," she says